Rozen Maiden: Drachen
by Solaris115
Summary: 20 years have passed since Enju escaped with Barasuishou before crumbling to the light of truth. A new hero shall take the alice game to its end, but he will try to find another way to end it. Will he succeed? First Fanfic. Reviews are appreciated. OCxSuigintou.
1. Will You Wind?

**Author´s note**: Hello and welcome to my first fanfic. I really hope you stick with me to the end of this story and I would love if you left reviews, as that is what keeps me going.

First things first; for anyone that might ask why the prologue doesn't appear as a separate chapter, don't worry. It is still here, I just decided to join the prologue and chapter 1.

Even though the prologue has Jun in it, he won't appear later. The story will have an OC as protagonist, just decided to let you know. I'm still not sure about the pairing but I'll let you know when the decision has been made, any opinion is welcome.

**Disclaimer**: **I do NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, **I do** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

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_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Prologue: 20 Years Later**_

"You…You are not Rozen?!"

While holding what seemed to be a lifeless doll, a boy with dark brown hair and glasses felt he had failed the one he was holding in his arms.

A doll in front of him was being held by another man, she looked to his face with a happy expression.

"Father, I did it!"

Ignoring her, the man looked at the kid before him.

"I will show the whole world I am better than him! ME! Enju! Barasuishou is just the first of my dolls! I will- No… what are you doing here?!"

The man who called himself Enju, his face expression changed from one of happiness to one of terror, as he saw another man very similar to him approaching him and the young kid in front of him.

"Ro-Rozen?!" He said

"What?" Said the kid

The boy with glasses, Jun Sakurada , could not believe what his eyes were seeing, it was Rozen, the legendary doll-maker who had created the doll that was resting in his arms, The Rozen Maidens.

"No! I will not let you destroy my plans! I´ll be back, I will destroy you and your common dolls!"

These were his last words as he ran away with his doll, leaving Jun and Rozen behind.

"You…you are the real Rozen?"

Rozen nodded while giving Jun a kind smile.

"You have completed your role in this story, you must go back, don't worry though, I´ll make sure my girls come back safely. This Alice game must be restarted, there cannot be any interruptions. You have done well, rest assured, as there is another way to finish this, but it´s ending is something you will not see."

Saying this, a flash of light was emitted from his right hand, flying objects known as Rosas Mysticas were floating in the air. This was the last thing Jun Sakurada heard or saw about Rozen and its dolls. He found himself in his room, and he understood his job was done when he looked his hands to find his rings were missing. With sadness clearly in his mind and a tear falling form his eyes, he thought:

"_Whoever gets involved in this, I trust you will take this game to an end without killing them. Good luck"_

Jun moved on with his life, whatever happened to him is a mystery.

A new hero will appear, an old foe will return. Will this game ever end? How? The answers to these questions will be found 20 years later. That was the amount of time it took for the Alice Game to start again.

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 1: Will you wind?**_

The sun was setting in the horizon. A certain someone noticed something different, even if nothing had changed from previous days; something about this one was clearly different, something felt different. At least, that was what Ryu Hoshigawa felt, something would certainly happen before midnight arrived. What this young teenager didn't know is that his life was about to change completely.

Ryu, a 16 year old guy was, at least until that day, a normal boy. Nothing about him really made him stand out between his classmates. Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, a 1, 70 m height, a slightly athletic body and good grades at school were characteristics that could be found on any other teenager. With a normal social life and dreams of becoming successful in life, he walked towards his home with his head filled with everyday thoughts about school and that sort of things.

When he got home, the silence was something completely familiar to him

"I´m home" he said.

He didn't wait for an answer before taking his shoes off, as he knew he couldn´t expect any. His apartment only housed him; as his father was rarely home, because he was traveling due to his work. His mother had died a couple of years ago, so he was used to being the only one who really lived there.

"_Well, not much can be done about it" _He thought.

When he arrived at his room, the first thing he did was leaving his bag next to his bed. Before lying down in order to rest from another busy day at school, Ryu took a look at his room. A desktop with his computer and some books could be found on one corner of the room; opposite to this was his bed, which had next to it the only window available in the room. In front of it was his T.V, and next to hit, was his closet.

After lying down, Ryu heard a sound from his phone. Upon looking at it, he could see a message he had rarely seen before.

"Hhhmm? A new message?"

When he saw it, he noticed the message had no sender. Not much was written in the message, only two options appeared: l will wind/ I will not wind. Between them the image of a black feather could be seen.

Ryu thought "_Must be junk mail, I guess I'll just delete it" _

Just when he was about to click the –Delete- option, he felt something about the message, something that told him this wasn't just ordinary spam. He felt he had to answer the question.

-Well, nobody gets hurt just by answering some junk email. If more of these appear, I´ll just block them- He said to himself.

After clicking –I will wind- he noticed night had fallen before he could even notice. Realizing he didn't have any work for tomorrow, he decided he would go to bed earlier than usual. After taking a bath and getting ready to sleep, he turned off his computer, switched the lights off and got into bed. He felt a little disappointed that the only change he had experienced from his daily routine was that unusual message.

"I guess the sunset didn´t change at all…"

What he didn´t know is that the biggest change in is life, was about to occur.

Ryu rarely had dreams, and if he had, they were nothing like this one.

"Where am I?" He asked himself.

Ryu found himself in what seemed to be an old, Victorian-style city, the only thing that made him feel nervous was the fact that it seemed to have suffered damage from some sort of war. Snow was falling down from a pitch-black sky, which, along with the deadly silence that surrounded Ryu, made him feel as if he was in a dead world.

"You must dreaming Ryu, you must be"

He said these words as if trying to calm himself down. He walked and walked until he arrived to something that was similar in appearance to the center of the city. From here, he could see an old church which had its doors opened as if inviting him to come in. Feeling something important was hiding in there, he stepped through the big entrance.

"Hello?" He said, unsure if he wanted to receive an answer or not.

Nothing was heard, only the echo of his question. He stepped further into the destroyed church. A dim ray of light, which came in from a hole in the ceiling, was the only thing that Ryu could see. When he found himself standing beneath it, he could notice black feathers were appearing around him, as if a thousand crows were flying above him, waiting for him to let his guard down to take him down.

"What the hell?"

These were the only words that could escape from his mouth, as a cold sweat was running down his body. He was certain it was just a dream, but it felt so real he was scared of what could happen next. His mind felt relieved when he heard a soft voice from a lady that came from the darkness in front of him.

"So you are the one who woke me up?" was the only thing he was able to hear.

"Who-Who is there?" Was his response

"You will need to learn to speak to a lady properly…*giggle*"

When the voice stopped, a delicate hand broke through the darkness; it was wearing a golden ring with what seemed to be a black rose on top of it as a decoration. The hand was in a position that implied he should kiss it as a prince would do in a fairy tale.

"Accept the contract, kiss the ring"

As soon as he heard this young lady voice break the silence, he felt unsure. It was certainly a weird dream, one he would not like to repeat again.

"_Maybe, if I kiss it I will be able to wake up, the dream must end here." _He thought.

He stepped closer, each step made his heart beat faster. He was scared, that´s for sure, but at the same time he felt something warm by hearing that voice. He kissed the ring, the next thing he saw, was himself being surrounded in a whirlwind of black feathers.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Ryu screamed as he woke up from that dream, he looked the clock hung on the wall and felt relieved in was a Saturday, that way he could rest from a hard week at school, as he thought that this was the cause for such a weird dream, which he almost considered a nightmare. He stared at the ceiling of his room while calming himself down, when…

"You certainly are an interesting human…"

It was the same voice from the dream he had. He turned his head to the desktop opposite to his bed to find what seemed to be a doll. She had pale skin, light purple eyes, silver hair, a pair of small wings made of black feathers and a black gothic dress with an upside down cross in it.

Ryu´s eyes widened when he realized the voice had come from her, a doll. He could not believe what his eyes were seeing. A living doll was sitting right before him. Before he could say anything, the doll opened her mouth once more and asked:

"What´s your name?"

"I-I am Ryu…Ryu Hoshigawa"

The doll didn't change her expression and said:

"Ryu? I guess it will do, I have granted you the honor to be my medium. My name is Suingintou, the first of the Rozen Maidens. I hope you will not disappoint me as my medium in this Alice Game"

"Alice Game?" Ryu did not know anything about that, though he knew about the legendary dolls, and their creator. Even if he had heard about them, he was still surprised they really existed.

After explaining the Alice game, Suigintou looked at Ryu directly and wondered why she felt he was different, special.

"_There is something about this human, I don't know what it is but he is special, I know it" _She thought.

"I don't really care much about what you think, but I suppose you understand your role in this" She said

Knowing he didn't really had any chance to go back on his word; he felt he had to help Suigintou to become Alice. Even though she was a little bit aggressive when he didn't understand certain parts of the Alice game, he felt she was a kind person, ignoring the fact that she was actually a doll.

"I do, I´ll help you become Alice. I swear it as your medium" He said with confidence.

"Good, I feel we might just get along well, but I won't forgive you if you get in my way, my only goal is to achieve my father´s wish."

Ryu knew that from this moment onwards, his life would not be the same; however, he felt a change in his daily routine would be interesting. It was also nice to know he wouldn't be the only one living in that apartment anymore.

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**I guess that's it for chapter 1, hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are much appreciated. I would love to hear what you think or any ideas you may might**** take some time for chapter 2 to be uploaded, since I don't have a clear idea on how to progress from here, but I´ll make sure I upload the next chapter as soon as I can. Thank you and see ya!**


	2. Follow The White Rabbit

**Author´s note: **Chapter 2 is here! I really hope you are enjoying this story. I want to thank ThanosofTitan for his review, I am grateful for your opinion and I like the fact you feel this story has potential. Thank you man! So, anyway… I guess I must start developing the actual plot, so I hope this chapter is enjoyable for all of you and, let´s get this started!

**Disclaimer**: **I do NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, **I do** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

**I just updated this chapter to decrease the speed in which Suigintou grew her affection towards Ryu, I must thank ThanosofTitan for making me notice Suigintou was acting in a very different way to that of the original.**

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

**Chapter 2: Follow The White Rabbit**

A couple of days had passed, and with summer vacations nearby; Ryu Hoshigawa knew that this "Alice Game" was no game at all. The way Suigintou explained how the game could be finished was something he didn´t expect, not when the dolls called each other their "sisters".

**Flashback**

"Whoa, hold on." Ryu said.

"Tsk" Suigintou wasn´t someone you could interrupt out of nowhere, not when she was talking about something as important as the Alice game. "What is it?"

"What do you mean by what is it? How can you talk about killing your sisters like if it was something normal? They´re your sisters!"

Ryu didn´t like the idea of looking for other dolls just to take their life away. Knowing that the Rosa Mystica was basically their heart, he knows taking one away wasn´t to be an easy task, at least not for him.

"I already told you I´m not going to fail in becoming Alice, like it or not you will help me win this. I have never felt ay affection for any of them, I´ve been treated like garbage, I will not show mercy to any of them. Is that understood?"

Suigintou felt that getting Ryu to help her was going to be harder. But even if she was someone with little patience when talking about her mediums, the fact that Ryu emitted a feeling of tranquility and that she felt he had potential, made her a little bit calmer than when she was with someone else.

"It is" said Ryu with a sigh that expressed disappointment. He didn't want to risk losing her. Only a couple of hours had passed since he had woken up, but the fact that this doll was so determined to become Alice made him feel worried about her.

"How are we going to find your sisters though? You told me there were moments where not all of you were awake."

Ryu decided to keep up with the flow of things in order to keep Suigintou calmed down. It was clear to him that he didn´t want to have Suigintou being mad at him.

"Hhhmm, I guess you´ll find out human. But first, I must check something"

"_I must see by myself, if he´s special. I know he is, I can feel it" _Suigintou thought.

Closing her eyes, Suigintou tried to concentrate as much as she could, attempting to feel what she felt when she first saw him.

"_What is she doing?" _Ryu thought this as he looked at Suigintou.

Power, this is what Suigintou felt flowing from Ryu. She knew this would be decisive in her quest for perfection. But, before she could finish thinking about what this power was exactly, Ryu interrupted her silence.

"Ehm…Suigintou?" Ryu said this, trying to discover if Suigintou had suddenly fallen sleep.

Opening her eyes, Suigintou said:

"1 hour. You have 1 hour to get prepared. I´ll take you to my n-field, I must test your worth."

**End of flashback**

After taking a shower and having breakfast, the time had come for him to visit this so called n-field. Even if Suigintou had explained how they worked, Ryu still felt a little nervous.

When Ryu entered his room, he saw Suigintou sitting in his bed, legs crossed and with a very serious expression in her face.

"You really are a terrible medium. I can´t believe you took the whole hour."

Knowing she couldn´t do much about it, she decided it was best to move on with her plans.

"Do you have any mirrors in here? We need one to travel to the n-field"

"I do. There´s one behind the closet door, look."

Opening the door, Ryu looked at Suigintou to find out if the mirror he used to get prepared for school every day was enough to her. Suigintou´s expression told him it was enough.

"Let´s go, it´s time to see if you´ll prove to be a useful medium or not *giggle*"

Even if she said this, she already knew the answer.

After seeing how Suigintou walked through the mirror as if it was some sort of portal, Ryu looked at his right hand and felt the golden ring he had acquired was burning. Feeling this was a sign telling him to be careful, he took a deep breath and stepped through the portal standing before him.

The first thing he noticed, is that he was standing in a familiar place, the same destroyed city he had been in when he was dreaming.

"This place…" He said, wondering if Suigintou had an explanation for him.

"This is my n-field Ryu, but you should be familiar with it, you´ve already been here" She answered, knowing beforehand that he would react like that.

Nothing had changed, snow still fell from the lifeless sky and the buildings were as destroyed as they were before, however, being there with someone else was a relief to Ryu, especially if it was Suigintou, the owner of that n-field.

Ryu lifted his head and said:

"Suigintou! There´s something following you!"

He shouted this as she was flying with her black wings, being followed by what seemed to be a tiny light, pulsing, as if it was talking.

"*Laughter* don't worry Ryu, this is Mei Mei, my artificial spirit. She won´t do us any harm."

"I-I see..." Ryu said this without knowing if that little light had own life as Suigintou did, but knowing that living dolls actually existed, it would have not surprised him if it did.

After walking for around 10 minutes, Ryu examined his surroundings and said:

"It seems weird that such a place belongs to a beautiful lady like you Suigintou"

Suigintou blushed a little bit because of that comment, as no human had called her beautiful before. She decided to turn her face away from Ryu so he could not see her blushed face.

"_He certainly is different. But he is still new to this, i can´t afford having him so relaxed to do comments like that one"_

Those words were something she would only expect to hear from her father, not from her medium.

While flying towards the center of the ghost town she had created, a strange feeling crawled in her mind. It was one that didn´t tell her much, but she was certain it meant something.

"_Maybe Ryu´s power is starting to flow within this place?"_

This thought distracted her from paying attention to her surroundings, something that her feeling wanted her to do, as a dark figure crept behind them, observing every movement Suigintou and her medium did.

"_She told me that n-fields are designed to match the owner's thoughts and feelings. Is this how she feels? Destroyed, alone, abandoned?"_

Ryu knew that he could not do much about it at the moment; these were his thoughts, as he walked in front of a destroyed bookstore. Looking at the remaining pages of what seemed to be a dairy, he could not really understand what was written in it, but he could tell that, by the sharp and aggressive turns in each word written in it, whoever wrote this was angry.

"_Could this be Suigintou´s diary? Why is this place in such a terrible condition?"_

These were Ryu´s thoughts as he ran through the streets in order to catch up with Suigintou, who had not stopped as if she had ignored the fact that her medium had been left behind in the snow-filled streets.

"_I will change this place, I will make sure she is happy, one way or another. I don't want her to feel this way. I know she is kind on the inside"_

Ryu had developed a certain amount of affection towards the doll in the short period they had been living together, even if they didn't exchange many words during the last couple of days, seeing her staring at the sky almost all day long made him feel that she was lonely.

Before he could catch up with her, the feeling of having someone observing him from a distance distracted Ryu´s attention from his doll. He was certain something or someone was following him, observing him. He could see that, in a distant alley, a figure that reassembled that of a man was watching him. The only thing that made him think that this was no ordinary man was the fact he had something weird in his head, something that looked like…ears.

"_Who is that?"_ Ryu thought.

He could not see clearly if those were ears as the dark figure moved further into the shadows behind it. Ryu decided to follow it, as his mind told him that the dark figure could know more about the Alice Game if it was roaming the streets of Suigintou´s n-field.

"_I´ll follow him, if anything happens, the silence in this town should prove useful if I need to call Suigintou" _Ryu thought.

The young Ryu started to follow the same path the figure had traced for him, curiosity had gotten the best of him. Running through the alleys of the dead town, Ryu heard something that made him doubt for a second if doing this without Siugintou was a good idea.

"*Laughs* Onee-san´s medium?*laughs*"

A soft girl´s voice came from what seemed to be all directions. After looking around him to see if he was not alone, Ryu couldn´t find anyone near him.

"Who is there?!"

No answer came from the little girl´s voice. Even if he came back, it was a long way back to the destroyed bookstore, which was the place where he last saw Suigintou. Shouting her name was not an option, as calling her could cause the dark figure he was following to disappear completely.

"_I guess I'll just carry on, I must find both whatever was observing us and that voice."_

Ryu kept walking until he lost track of the figure, though he found himself in front of what seemed to be a theater. Not much remained from its entrance; the place where its doors where supposed to be, was empty. Broken windows to the sides and a red curtain with what seemed to be the place where the theater´s name was once hung askew was burnt, with ashes and snow covering the now discolored red carpet.

Meanwhile, Suigintou was floating over a fountain that marked the center of the n-field. When she turned around in order to start Ryu´s test, he was nowhere to be found.

"Ryu? Where are you?"

There was no answer. She knew something was wrong; Ryu would not wander off without a good reason to do so. She knew Ryu was sharper than her previous mediums.

"Mei Mei! Find him!"

As soon as she said this, the artificial spirit started pulsating as if it was talking to her. Suigintou turned her face and saw at the end of the main street, that Ryu was standing before the destroyed theater her conscience had created in the n-field. She was now able to continue with the test, and a calmed expression was formed in her face, as her n-field could prove to be a dangerous place for someone who didn't know where he was going.

"Hey! Ryu! What are you doing you useless human? Get over he-"

Her voice froze and her expression changed when she saw that, not only did Ryu ignore her words as if he didn't hear her, but also, when he entered the theater, a figure she did not expect to find there entered the theater too without Ryu noticing.

"_Laplace!" _She thought

Knowing that nothing good could come from the white rabbit Ryu had followed, she flew at the highest possible speed her black wings could fly towards the entrance of the theater.

"RYU! STOP! DON´T GO IN THERE!"

After the White rabbit looked and her and waved as if making fun of her, the entrance ceiling collapsed, blocking the entrance.

"_Damn it! Why would Laplace go after him?"_

Meanwhile, inside the theater, Ryu heard how the entrance had collapsed and knew something was not right. When he turned to see what had happened he was surprised to find what seemed to be a white rabbit in a tuxedo. His golden ring started to burn even harder than when he stepped into the mirror that transported him into this twisted world. Chills went down his spine as the creature walked towards him and said:

"I hope this theater is of your liking. I welcome you to this play and hope you enjoy it, young Maestro"

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**DUN DUN DUUUUNNN… there goes chapter 2 folks. Hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to leave reviews and I would be very thankful if you spread this story as I would like to know if there is more readers out there that might enjoy this story. Again, thank you fro reading and I will see you next time, though I don't know when will that be, might be today, might be tomorrow, or might be next week. See ya!**


	3. Maestro-Part 1

**Author´s note: **So, chapter 3…I can´t really say much about it, but I can assure you this chapter will mark the start of the actual plot, at least for the first act. I hope you enjoy it and, let´s get this started!

**Disclaimer**: **I do NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, **I do** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

**Update 30/03/2014: Had to update because of next chapter(Doesn´t mean next chapter will be uploaded today). No actual changes done to the story, just the tittle.**

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 3: Maestro-Part 1**_

"Maestro?"

Ryu did not understand why he was called that. But it wasn't his biggest worry, as the white rabbit standing before him didn't make Ryu comfortable. Why was he trapped in there? Was the rabbit the shadow he was chasing after? What is a Maestro? These were questions floating in Ryu´s mind, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answers.

"Who are you?" Was the question he considered the wisest in a moment such as that one.

"I´m everything, and I´m nothing. I´m everyone and I´m no one. But, beings such as you know me by the name of Laplace."

After presenting himself to Ryu, Laplace bowed and proceeded to walk into the inner part of the theatre.

"Now, if you´ll follow me, young Maestro. The play is just about to begin."

Ryu wasn't sure about what should he do. The invitation wasn't something he had expected, and a play in such a place like that one wasn't something he wanted to do. He knew the rabbit had something to do with him that could be more important than just a play.

Oh if it had been just a play…

Meanwhile, right at the now blocked entrance, Suigintou could feel that Laplace was walking further into the theatre with Ryu walking behind him. His energy was walking away. What worried her was a third and even a fourth source of energy from inside the theatre, where the main stage should be.

"_I have to get inside; this feeling… it can just mean one thing. She´s here"_

Suigintou could recognize one of the sources of energy, but the other one was a complete mystery to her. The only thing she could do was trying to get into the abandoned theatre, as the sources of energy near Ryu could not be harmless if they had managed to get into her n-field without her knowing.

"_This place, it must have an opening somewhere. I can´t seem to be able to control my own n-field… this is bad"_ Where her thoughts while flying around the building, searching for a potential entrance.

Inside the theatre, Ryu watched his surroundings while following Laplace. Debris was blocking most of the doors to the upper floors. The inside of the building was destroyed in such a way, that it seemed as if it had carved a path for him and the enigmatic rabbit to follow.

"What is so important about his play you want me to look at? Why did you call me Maestro? What does that mean?"

Ryu needed to get those answers out of his head, he could not be distracted by such things in a moment like this. Someone, or rather something was leading him into the darkness of Suigintou´s n-field. He had to know what was going on.

"Certain answers will come at the correct time. The correct time will come with certain answers."

This was a response that didn´t mean much to Ryu. He understood it would be better to go along with Laplace, at least until they arrived to see the beginning of the "play".

Just a minute a walking passed when a great red door was opened before Ryu and Laplace. It seemed odd that this door was standing out so brightly in a place as dark as Suigintou´s n-field.

Outside, on the rooftop, Suigintou saw what seemed to be a great glass ceiling just above where the stage should be. The only thing that kept her from going into the theater was what seemed to be a field full of thorns with white roses blossoming from them.

"_This shouldn't be here, another doll must be here but…I can't recall any of my sisters controlling thorns with white roses_." She thought.

Suiseiseki crossed her mind because she knew she could control plants, but she was sure it couldn´t be her, as the source of that power didn´t feel like her sister at all.

"I´m sorry Onee-san, but this play is not for you to see *Giggle*"

The sound of a voice very similar to Barasuishou´s came from all directions in a very happy tone. But even if it was similar, Barasuishou never got to call her Onee-san, so it was probably someone else.

"_I must hurry, I won´t let this intruder enter and exit my n-field as if it was its own"_

Suigintou summoned her sword with these thoughts in her head and started slashing her way to what seemed to be the only the entrance to the dark theatre in which Ryu and Laplace were in.

In the meanwhile, Laplace turned to Ryu while opening the door leading to the main section of the theatre´s seats.

"The beginning of the real game lies through this door, your destiny waits for you."

These were Laplace´s words before he went through the big red door. After the door closed behind him, his steps could not be heard anymore, as if he had disappeared just when the door closed behind him.

Taking a deep breath, Ryu opened the door and, as soon as the door closed behind him, his ring started to burn with strength.

"_Argh-What is going on?!"_

Ryu advanced further into the darkness while holding his right hand in deep pain.

Just when he moved a few steps forward, the stage lights came on and illuminated the remaining seats in the main section of the theater. Each seat had a toy or a damaged doll sitting in it, with their head missing, all of them had their hands positioned in a way as if they were ready to applaud whoever came on stage, as if they were waiting anxiously.

Thanks to the light, Ryu could see how each seat was covered in thorns with white roses, and how they were surrounded by some sort of crystals emerging from the ground.

It took Ryu some time to notice the figures standing on top of stage, directly under the spotlights. There were two of them, smiling at him. Both of them were very similar to the other.

"_More dolls?" _Ryu thought.

One of them had long, silver hair, with a pair of rosebuds, one on each side, tying some strings of her hair a little bit back. She had a lavender dress with long sleeves covering her arms and light-purple boots. Only one of her eyes could be seen, the right one which was yellow, as the other one was covered by a patch decorated with a purple rose.

The other one had long, white hair with a couple of white roses tied to it. She was wearing a light-pink, ruffled dress and tall, light-pink boots. Her left eye was yellow, matching the other doll´s. Instead of a right eye, this doll had a white rose blossoming from where the eye should be.

The sight of these dolls was uncomfortable to Ryu, who felt that something about those dolls was just off.

"Who are you?"

Just when he asked, Ryu could see how, slowly, the toys and dolls that were sitting around him started to struggle trying to move their hands, as if they were trying to clap.

"Onee-san´s medium*Giggle*" Said the doll with the rose blossoming from her eye. "Don´t worry, you´re safe here…"

Her expression was…weird. Her smile told Ryu that she had been waiting for him. He had to know her true intentions.

"You didn´t answer my question." Ryu said.

"You didn´t answer my question." Said the eye patched doll.

"_Something´s wrong. The feeling I get from them is completely different from Suigintou´s"_

These were Ryu´s thoughts as both of the dolls in front of him started laughing very softly.

Meanwhile, Laplace was observing from above the meeting between Ryu and the dolls. Knowing Suigintou could appear in any second, he decided to make things quicker, as he was very curious about what could happen next.

"Ladies, don't forget your maneers and present to him, he is a Maestro after all, and he must be treated as such."

Ryu turned his eyes in order to see where the rabbit was. When he spotted him floating in what seemed to be a portal, he heard one of the dolls moving closer to him.

"My name is Kirakishou, and she is Barasuishou, it is a pleasure to meet you, Ryu Hoshigawa." Said the doll with the light-pink dress. Bowing slightly, a smirk was formed in her face, showing satisfaction. After her, the doll known as Barasuishou did the same.

"Kira, ask him if want to…be your medium, it could get you closer to your father *Giggle*"

Barasuishou said this with a smile in her lips. Ryu wasn't sure how to react to that.

"_-Your father-… That must mean she isn't a Rozen Maiden, but, in that case, why is she helping her? Why does she want me to become this doll´s medium?"_

Ryu saw how Kirakishou was walking towards him at a slow pace, a smile carved in her lips, her eyes opened wide and wild.

"Please, accept a contract with me. Onee-san told you she wants to meet father didn't her? If you accept me, I'll get you closer to him. Onee-san would be very happy *Laughs*"

Her eyes told him she was hiding something.

"Ehm… I don't think it is a good idea…"

Ryu said this while backing off. But he was stopped when he felt some vines surround his legs and his arms.

"Accept me! Give me your power!"

Kirakishou said this while leaning towards Ryu with her hand extended. Barasuishou was watching in joy as the ring in Kirakishou´s hand was getting closer to Ryu´s lips.

"I don't think so!"

With the sound of broken glass falling from above, black feathers fell towards Kirakishou´s direction, causing her to jump back into the stage, standing right beside her partner.

An even bigger smile appeared in both Kirakishou´s and Barasuishou´s faces when they saw Suigintou descending from the ceiling window, with her sword on hand, pointing it towards the dolls.

"Ryu, I recall telling you not to do anything if I didn't order it. What a useless medium you have proven to be so far." Suigintou said this with a smile, without taking her sight from the dolls that were standing in the stage.

With a swift movement, she slashed the thorns that had captured Ryu.

"Hopefully you´ll forgive me once we get home. For now, I would like to know what´s going on."

Ryu said this while moving beside his doll. With his ring burning like it had never done before, Ryu knew the dolls in front of him would be the first opponents he would face in this game.

"_I knew it had to be her. The only one to ever call me one-san is…" _Suigintou thought.

"I´ll explain later. For now, I present you the seventh Rozen Maiden: Kirakishou."

Suigintou said this while poiting her sword towards Kirakishou.

"And the other one is Barasuishou, a fake doll."

She said this as she turned her face towards Barasuishou, anger was clearly in Suigintou´s eyes as she could remember what had happened 20 years ago.

Both of the dolls looked more excited that when they almost took Ryu´s power. They had planned everything. Barasuishou summoned a crystal sword, while Kirakishou started to create white rose vines that surrounded her. In unison and with their eyes widely open, both of the dolls said:

"Now that everything´s set…"

Suigintou prepared her sword and her wings took the shape of two dragon heads. Ryu started feeling a deep pain again, but this time, it was his right hand burning, not his ring.

"…LET THE PLAY BEGIN!"

To be continued...

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**So yeah… that was chapter 3. I know it was a little bit weird close to the end, or at least that is how I felt it was. I hope next chapter´s battle doesn't turn out to be a terrible one as it is going to be my first time actually describing one. Hopefully you´ve enjoyed reading this chapter and the whole story until now. I would love to hear what you think, so your review is welcome. I do hope to have next chapter up by next week, as I have a lot of work to do regarding school projects, but who knows. Thank you and see ya!**


	4. Maestro-Part 2

**Author´s note: **Chapter 4 is here! Prepare yourselves for the first battle written by me, which means it might just be terrible. Regarding some reviews, I will talk about the pairing OCxSuigintou or OCxEvery Doll thing at the end of this chapter. Reviews are appreciated.

I must thank **ThanosofTitan, Argorok and Slattern** for reviewing this story and following it. And **Takahashi Kanade and cloemcphail **** for following it as well. **So yeah, thank you guys! =)

I´m pretty sure I received another review from a guest but it doesn´t appear in the page, so thank you too.

Sorry for any mistakes I might make.

**Disclaimer: ****I do NOT **own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, **I do **own Ryu Hoshigawa.

**Update 05/04/2014:**** I want to thank ThanosofTitan for the info about Suigintou not liking tea. As a result I have taken that part out, I was pretty sure I had read somewhere she did like it but didn't talk about it...oh well**

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 4: Maestro-Part 2**_

The sound of clashing swords echoed through the theatre as Suigintou and Barasuishou charged towards each other.

Laplace floated above the ongoing battle, watching with great admiration as, while Suigintou was occupied blocking and dodging Barasuishou´s attacks, Ryu was doing his best in order to escape Kirakishou´s thorns.

Suigintou took her eyes away from Barasuishou for a second, just to see if Ryu could stay away from Kirakishou on his own. She didn't notice that Barasuishou was charging directly at her with her crystal sword pointed at her direction.

Ryu, after using some of the seats available as cover, saw this and shouted:

"Suigintou! Watch out!"

It was thanks to his voice that Suigintou managed to dodge the crystal sword just in time, but even if she had managed to escape unharmed from that attack, her dress did not have the same luck as her.

"A lady wouldn't take her eyes away from her dance partner."

Barasuishou said this with a little smile on her lips, and opened her hand, which was pointing at Suigintou.

As soon as she did this, tiny crystals appeared out of nowhere and flew towards Suigintou, who protected herself from this attack using her wings to block the projectiles.

"_Damn it, I haven't been able to even scratch her."_

These were Suigintou´s thoughts, as she was panting while flying towards the stage, trying to see if Ryu was still unharmed.

Meanwhile, Ryu was struggling to keep dodging and running between the seats in the main part of the auditorium in front of the stage. This was mainly because of the pain he felt in his right hand.

He could see how Suigintou was only dodging and casually firing some black feathers towards Barasuishou in order to keep her distance.

"_Tsk, I must lure Kirakishou out of here. If I stay here, Suigintou won´t be able to concentrate on taking down Barasuishou…"_

Ryu thought about it while Kirakishou was just enjoying herself because of the view she had. Not only was her "half-sister" keeping Suigintou away from interfering with her plan, but she could also see how Ryu was starting to make clumsy movements after dodging her attacks. She knew Ryu would eventually get tired, and she would be able to trap him and force him into being her medium.

"_Yes! Yes!" _Kirakishou repeated this on her head as she could feel her victory was getting closer.

She could imagine herself draining away all the power a Maestro could provide. After that, she would finish Suigintou off and take her Rosa Mystica. She would be one step closer to becoming perfect, one step closer to meeting her father.

Or at least, that would´ve happened if Ryu had continued dodging her attacks inside the auditorium.

"Kirakishou, I hope you don't mind playing hide and seek for a while!"

Ryu said this and ran in order to get to a door he spotted right beside the first row of seats. He had a basic idea of how a theatre was, and expected the door to take him to the back stage and some corridors that should lead to a backdoor.

Before going through the door, his eyes and Suigintou´s eyes met. His eyes told her he would be taking Kirakishou away. She would have to defeat Barasuishou as fast as she could, as Ryu would be playing cat and mouse in the dark passages behind the stage and she knew Kirakishou would have time on her side.

"_You are not supposed to fight her on your own...Idiot" _She thought this with a giggle; her eyes were closed, whilst remembering the promise he made to her. "_Humans…" _She opened her eyes and, as a light smile formed on her lips, she said:

"It´s sad to see the failure of a doll you are. If you think you are going to win just with that attacks, you´re in for a humiliating defeat, Barasuishou!"

Confidence was clearly in her eyes. She flew to match Barasuishou´s height and posed as if she was ready to start attacking with her sword.

While she said this, Kirakishou had seen how Ryu had disappeared through the door leading to the backstage and its surroundings. She started laughing very softly with her head down. While her laughter increased, her head looked up to the ceiling, and she said, very happily:

"Yes, let´s play, Ryu-san! It will be fun to look for you, so hide, and hide very well!"

When she finished her phrase, she started flying and went through the same door Ryu had run through.

Just as she disappeared, Suigintou opened her wings and attacked Barasuishou with both of them. Barasuishou was surprised her opponent was on the attacking end now, but she returned to her calmed self and responded by descending, almost touching the floor.

As soon as Suigintou descended to the same height, Barasuishou summoned giant crystal shards from the floor, which advanced rapidly in Suigintou´s direction, trying to pierce her torso.

"Those old tricks won't work here!" Suigintou said this and flew high enough to avoid the crystals Barasuishou had summoned. One of her wings took the form a dragon again, and it flew at a high speed towards Barasuishou, who flew to the side, dodging it.

Ryu could feel the vibrations produced by these attacks traveling through the dark alleys behind the stage he was running in. He knew it wouldn´t take long for Kirakishou to find him, or for him to end up in a dead alley, as he had seen some passages blocked by debris.

His heart rate was rising; his body was shivering while running. The echoes of Kirakishou´s laughter, the repeating image of a blocked corridor and knowing this chase wouldn´t last much longer were the sources of his nervousness. He was thankful there were openings in the ceiling every now and then, dimly illumining the corridors.

"_I won't last much. I´m very tired." _Ryu thought about this while feeling how Suigintou was taking some of his energy to fight Barasuishou. This, combined with the pain, was something he could not stand anymore.

"Ryu-kun, where are you?"

Kirakishou´s voice echoed through the corridors.

Ryu kept running, but after some time, his fear became a reality when he found himself in a dead alley.

"No…Not now…" Ryu said this while turning back to see if he could be fast enough to find another way.

He started walking back but kept looking to the wall that had stopped him on his tracks, when:

"Ryu-san! I´ve found you! I guess you lose."

He stopped and started to turn his gaze to the direction Kirakishou´s voice had come from, and there she was, smiling to him. Thorns with white roses where moving in his direction, on the walls on each side of the corridor.

"_Damn…I need to do something, fast." _Ryu thought.

His eyes widened in surprise when he saw how Kirakishou was raising a wall of thorns just behind her back. He was trapped in that little space with her.

Just when the wall had been completed, his right hand was deeply in pain.

"You can´t escape now. Your power is mine."

These were Kirakishou´s words as she started walking towards Ryu. She was moving closer to Ryu´s right hand side wall. As an unconscious response to this, Ryu started to stick to his left hand side wall, causing them to move in a circle.

Kirakishou giggled.

Ryu realized he had fallen for Kirakishou´s final trap way too late. With his back on the wall of thorns created by Kirakishou, some of them started to trap his legs while other set of thorns started to force his head into leaning forward. Kirakishou was moving closer to him, so she could create the contract.

Just when a meter separated both of them, a mark with the shape of a dragon appeared in the dorsal side of Ryu´s right hand in a flash of light.

"_What the hell?"_

These were Ryu´s thoughts as he saw how the mark seemed to be completed and was glowing in a red color. His pain was gone, and the only thing he could feel was a high amount of energy flowing through his veins.

"This power… It will be MINE!" Kirakishou said this and moved her hand close to Ryu´s lips.

Ryu moved his right hand, which was now formed into a fist, and touched Kirakishou´s ring with it. As soon as he did this, a flash of light covered the small area they were in.

"What? What is this?" Kirakishou said, she was clearly surprised by this.

Meanwhile, both Suigintou and Barasuishou were standing on the stage. Both of them tired, and their dresses were in a damaged state. The auditorium was almost completely destroyed, and many of the seats that remained when the battle started were now missing.

"_Ryu´s presence… It feels different. Does it mean Kirakishou has made the contract?"_

Suigintou thought about the possibility of Ryu being caught. But she did not have time to worry about that, not now.

Barasuishou had felt the change in Ryu too, though she wasn´t sure if Kirakishou had succeeded.

Just when both of them were about to resume the chaos, the wall on the opposite side of the door Ryu and Kirakishou had disappeared through, exploded. From the smoke and debris caused by this, Kirakishou could be seen standing up, with a couple of scratches on her face and her dress covered in dust.

"YES, THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO SEE! THIS POWER WILL BRING ME CLOSER TO FATHER!"

Kirakishou said this with a big smile carved on her face. But then she fell to her knees, tired and shocked due to the strength of Ryu´s power.

Barasuishou understood it had been enough; she had to get Kirakishou out of there.

Oddly enough, it seemed that the area in which Ryu was trapped alongside Kirakishou was right when that wall was, which proved Ryu had been quite lucky. When he stepped through the hole in the wall, he fell to his knees too. The power outburst had proven to be too sudden to him.

When he saw he was back at the main section of the theatre, he was grateful. His luck had never proven to be useful before. If it hadn´t been, Kirakishou would have been able to recover and capture him, as he was so tired he could barely stand on his own.

"Ryu!" Suigintou said this as she flew towards him.

Just at that, Laplace started to descend from his seat in the balcony of the auditorium. He had stopped watching them fight form his portal, as he thought a play should be seen the way it is supposed to be.

While he was descending, he noticed the dragon mark in Ryu´s hand and thought:

"_So he is more than a common Maestro…Master Rozen will be pleased to know about this"_

When he touched ground, he said:

"The conclusion of this play isn´t scheduled for this moment. You must leave and wait for the next act."

When he said this, he opened a portal behind both groups and one for himself. Kirakishou and Barasuishou left as soon as the portal was opened, both of them giving a smile to Suigintou and Ryu.

Before leaving, Ryu asked:

"Wait. What does this mark mean? What is a Maestro?"

Suigintou hadn´t noticed the mark. When she saw it, her eyes reflected her surprise. Then Laplace said:

"The second question can be answered by your partner. For the first question, I can only tell you that you are special, young Ryu. As your mark suggests, you are the Drachen Maestro."

"Drachen?" Ryu said, as he struggled to stand up.

Laplace bowed and disappeared. Suigintou helped Ryu to get back on his feet with multiple questions revolving around in her head.

"_Now what does this mean, father? How should I explain it to him? It doesn´t matter, he needs answers."_

Just when they crossed the portal, they were back at Ryu´s room. Ryu looked at the watch hung on his wall and said:

"How come only 10 minutes have passed? We were there for almost an hour!"

"Time moves slower when you are on an n-field. I´m pretty sure I have already explained n-fields to you."

This was Suigintou´s answer as she helped Ryu get into his bed to rest.

"Suigintou, I need to know what is going on."

Ryu said this while he tried to get into his sleeping clothes. Suigintou turned her back to him in order to not see her medium undressed and said:

"Not now, you need to rest. Your stupidity almost gets you captured…"

Ryu had his head down. He thought he had finally been of use to her. Those words were something he wasn't expecting.

Suigintou turned back to him, as he had already changed his clothes. Looking how Ryu had reacted to her answer, she said:

"…but I guess it was helpful. You did well Ryu, I think…what you did…might have been more than just helpful."

When Ryu heard this, his mood got back up again. His face lit up and then, with a warm smile in his lips, he said joyfully:

"Suigintou…"

Suigintou heard this and turned her now slightly blushed face. "Hmph!"

"Go and sleep now, you idiot! You better use the time I´m giving you to rest, because I´ll wake you up very early in the morning and I want you to fix my dress!" She said.

"Yes…Yes…" Was his answer.

"I also want you to make breakfast tomorrow, and it better be good!"

She said and sat on top of her case, ready to sleep.

"Yes...Yes..." He repeated his answer happily, turned the lights off, and went to sleep. Suigintou did the same.

Meanwhile, in an unknown and distanced n-field, Laplace entered what seemed to be a mansion from a portal.

He walked down the corridors of said mansion until he arrived to some kind of office.

There was someone waiting for him, sitting in front of a big table with a cup of tea in from of him. Shadows were covering the upper part of his face, the only thing the rabbit could see was his mouth, and the blonde, curly hair falling from his head, which had most of it tied into a ponytail.

"Master Rozen"

Laplace said this and bowed in front of his master.

"The young child…He is the chosen one, we´ve found him."

Laplace said this, and looked at his master.

"What is his name?" Rozen asked.

"Ryu, Ryu Hoshigawa" Laplace answered.

"Ryu…"

A smile formed on his lips.

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**There we go; hopefully it was a good chapter for all of you. This is the first time I´ve actually written about a battle as I said at the start of this chapter, so let me know how it was. Now…about the pairing that is going to be developed, I´m still not sure what to do with that, mainly because the original idea was to make it OCxSuigintou, but I´ve received a couple of PMs and 3 reviews with their opinion about this, so I don't know.**

**I do have an inclination for OCxSuigintou but, at least for now, have an idea of making two endings or something like that, developing both. Do let me know what you think about this, if I should take the romance and make it happen during the story or fully develop it into a romance until the ending of the story.**

**Oh, don't worry about that Ryu power burst or however you want to call it, it was just his Maestro power being released, so that won't happen again.**

**I have to go; this is a really long Author´s note so yeah. See ya next time! Remember to leave reviews!**


	5. Crimson Dream

**Author's note**: Well, I guess I must start introducing the rest of the characters, so I hope this introduction isn't a bad one. I will let you know when the pairing has been decided. I really hope that anyone who doesn't like the decision will keep reading. Remember to leave reviews and all that stuff, as that is what keeps me writing. Let's get this started!

**Disclaimer**: I **do NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, I **DO** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 5: Crimson Dream**_

"What are you doing here?"

This question echoed through Ryu's mind. He wasn't sure where the voice had come from; it wasn't close or far away from him. It was everywhere.

"Who are you?"

Ryu wasn't sure where he was, or how did he got there. The last thing he could remember was Suigintou sending him to sleep after coming back from her n-field.

"_Where am I_?" He thought.

He was standing in the middle of a corridor. He wasn't in his pajamas though; instead he was wearing a black t-shirt, some jeans and grey trainers. His usual clothes when he was not at school.

For the way the carpet and walls were decorated, he knew it had to be some sort of mansion or palace, though he wasn't sure, because the strong light coming from the windows didn't let him see what was outside.

"You are a rude human, aren't you? If a lady asks you a question, you are expected to answer."

This time, Ryu figured out the direction from where the voice had come from. It was coming from one of the doors he could see in front of him, though he wasn't sure about the exact location.

Ryu turned his face to see what was behind him. The corridor seemed to grow larger and larger by the second.

He felt that if he had kept looking in that direction, his mind would trick him into believing that the corridor was infinite.

Ryu started walking towards the doors he had seen at the end of the corridor in front of him.

"_That voice... Where did it come from_?" Ryu thought.

The door in front of him was slightly opened, and it was the first one he could see from where he was before.

From where he was standing now, he could either turn left in order to continue walking down the corridor to check the other doors, or he could open the door in front of him and see what was inside.

The way in which the voice had called him the first time and the way his body felt confirmed his thoughts about what was going on, he was dreaming.

But it wasn't any ordinary dream. He felt the same way he had felt in the dream before meeting Suigintou, it felt real, but the setting was completely different.

"_I wonder… Will it be like last time?"_

Ryu wasn't sure what to expect after waking up if that was the case. Another doll in his house would turn his life upside down; he knew Suigintou wouldn't receive any doll with her arms open.

Opening the door, he could see a very well decorated room, with some shelves surrounding a big, round table with a cup of tea on top of it.

Behind it, there was a doll sitting in a big, red chair. It had long, blonde hair, tied into two ponytails at the back of her hair. She was wearing a red dress, and was using a red bonnet as an accessory to it. The bonnet was fastened with a green ribbon, tied into a bow in her neck.

The sight of it was something amazing, similar to when he first saw Suigintou, even if the feeling wasn't the same Suigintou gave to him when they met.

She was staring directly at his eyes, with a very serious expression. She drank a sip of tea and said:

"I don't know how you got here, but I want you to tell me who you are, now."

The doll´s voice didn't express anything but annoyance. He wasn't supposed to be in that room with her, though he didn't even know how or why he was there.

"_Suigintou must know her. This is the same as before, she must be another Rozen Maiden"_

Ryu thought about the possibility of her being one of Suigintou's sisters. After examining her for a while, Ryu answered:

"My name is Ryu Hoshigawa. I don't really know where I am or why I am here, so I might be short of answers for most of your questions."

The doll gave him an ever more annoyed stare. She wanted a better answer, though the name seemed to be enough.

"You shouldn't be here. No human should be here without my permission."

The doll said this and took another sip of her tea without taking her eyes away from Ryu.

Ryu was thinking about how similar this dream was compared to the one he had the night before becoming Suigintou´s medium. It wasn't similar in appearance, that was for sure, but the way everything was unfolding, the doll "calling" for him, everything seemed to have an order to him follow a similar order.

"Who are you? How did you know I was here? Where are we?"

Ryu asked this without hesitation. It would be better to gather any information he could get before waking up, that way, he would be able to think about a way to avoid a confrontation between Suigintou and this doll, in case she appeared next morning.

"My name is Shinku, the fifth Rozen Maiden."

Now that Ryu had confirmed that the doll in front of him was Rozen Maiden indeed, he felt relieved, because he now had an idea about what was going on.

But, at the same time, he felt uncomfortable, because he thought that if this doll discovered he was another doll´s medium, he could be in danger, if all dolls had the same determination Suigintou had to win the Alice Game.

"This place is an n-field, my n-field. That´s why I knew you were here, I felt your presence, so-"

Shinku´s voice got cut off when she saw the ring he was wearing in his right hand. The black rose decorating it made her even more surprised. She also saw the mark, but wasn't sure about what it meant. She decided to ignore it, at least for now.

"_Is he…Suigintou´s medium? I can´t let this chance slip away. I must find her, convince her." _Shinku thought.

Having Suigintou´s medium in front of her meant that she had a chance to meet with Suigintou and try to convince her, once more, that they didn´t have to fight. She would also try to make up with her sister, if given the opportunity, for what had happened many years ago.

"You-You know Suigintou don't you? You are my sister´s medium."

Shinku said this to Ryu, trying to know more about her sister´s whereabouts.

"I do…How did you know though?" Ryu answered.

"Your ring, it is unique. Each of us has a distinctive ring that we only share with our medium. The one you have belongs to Suigintou. Where is she?"

Ryu could feel in her words that she did not want to hurt him, but she definitely had an eager desire to know more about Suigintou.

This was something that made him think about what his answers should be like. Giving her information about Suigintou could be dangerous, because the crimson-dressed doll could be trying to get them together, so that she could attack both of them at the same time.

Or, at least, that was what Ryu thought.

Shinku, instead, only had one objective: To know where her sister was. The opportunity she had in front of her was golden.

"Why do you want to know?" Was Ryu´s answer.

"I want to talk to her. That´s all, you should know that inquiring about something like other people´s business is impolite."

Shinku´s words only made Ryu more uncomfortable. If she didn't want him to know the details, it could mean she was hiding something. His face became more serious due to this.

"I know it sounds suspicious, but you have to believe me when I tell you I don´t want to hurt her, nor you. I want to change her mind about becoming Alice." Shinku added.

"Why is that?"

Ryu wasn't sure if he should believe about her words. She had serious tone on her voice, but her expression was a worried one.

"My father, the one who started all of this and created me and my sisters, told me there is another way to finish this. That was a long time ago before putting me back to sleep. I want to finish this without losing any of my sisters." Shinku said, hoping Ryu would believe her.

Even though Suigintou explained that only one doll had to survive in order to finish the game, she never told him it was the only way to do it. Another way, one that didn't involve risking her in the process was something he was hoping for.

And, now that another doll had told him that another way did exist, his mind was at ease.

"Is there?! How can I end it without fighting? Please, tell me."

Ryu´s eyes were filled with hope. Shinku felt relieved, because she knew she had managed to get his attention and, to some degree, his approval.

But she knew she could lose that with her answer.

"I…don't know. Father told me there was another way, but that´s all I know."

This was Shinku´s response. Her eyes reflected a bit of sadness because of the lack of information. Her father had given her hope, but she didn't know how long it would last.

Ryu sighed, with his eyes closed. After just a few second of silence, he said:

"In that case, we must find out. I don't want Suigintou to get hurt."

A little smile formed on Shinku´s face after hearing this, because now she knew that getting Suigintou to help her would be easier. Having her medium helping her would be a boost to her efforts.

Also, it was nice to know that Suigintou had someone that was worried about her, that looked after her.

"Suigintou and I are living in the northern side of the city, a couple of blocks away from the biggest park in the area." Ryu said.

"Thank you, I should be able to find you by tracking Suigintou´s energy in that area. Ryu, we will meet again very soon, you must leave now, it´s time for you to wake up."

As soon as Shinku said this, Ryu´s vision started to blur.

The dream was coming to its end.

Ryu woke up. Suigintou´s hand was almost touching his elbow, ready to start shaking his body in order to wake him up.

"Hhhmm? It seems you have woken up without my help, that´s good. Now, get up and prepare breakfast, move!" Suigintou said.

Ryu ignored her words, and stared into the ceiling trying to process what he had just seen. Another doll would appear soon, and a lot of things could happen because of that. He had to prepare for what would happen when that happens.

"Hey! Didn´t you hear what I said? Get up!"

Suigintou said this but, looking the way Ryu was staring into the ceiling, she felt something important must have happened to cause his mind to wander off, despite her orders.

"Ryu? Ryu? Do you hear me? …Hey! Human!" Suigintou said.

"I must talk to you, I just had a dream that might just be more than that" Ryu said, ignoring her shouts.

"What do you mean Ryu?"

Suigintou didn't know what was going on. Usually, after a couple of shouts, he would obey her orders in order to not piss her off.

But now, it was different; he had never been so distracted.

"Another doll is coming."

* * *

**How was it?**

**I know it might have been a crappy chapter, or at least that's how I felt it when writing it. I hope it wasn't a very lame introduction of Shinku; I wasn't sure how to introduce her, so I thought this would be an OK way to do it.**

**I think next week is going to be a very productive one, because I will have time enough to write a good amount of chapters, but I'm not sure if I'm going to upload them as soon as I finish them or save them to upload one each week, I guess it depends on the reviews xD.**

**Please, leave reviews, follow and that sort of stuff. It keeps me writing. Your opinions and ideas are welcome. Thank you for reading and I´ll see you on the next chapter!**


	6. Shedding Tears

**Author´s note:** Chapter 6! I hope this is enjoyable, as the ideas are not flowing into my head as they did when writing the previous chapters. I would like to thank everyone who has been reading, and especially the ones who have been reviewing the story, nonetheless I thank everyone who has been kind enough to get past chapter one, because it fills my heart with happiness to know the story has interested someone out there.

**Disclaimer:** I **DO NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, I **DO** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 6: Shedding Tears**_

"Another doll is coming."

Silence filled Ryu´s room.

It took some time for Suigintou to process what she had just heard.

Her confused eyes looked at Ryu. It had been one day since they had returned from her n-field after fighting Barasuishou and Kirakishou. What seemed to trouble Suigintou was the idea of meeting another doll outside, in the real world.

"What do you exactly mean…by another doll?"

Whether humans can feel anger or not, they can certainly hear it. Ryu heard it in Suigintou´s voice, as he remembered how Suigintou felt towards the other dolls. This made him doubt if saying that another doll would appear soon had been a good idea.

"_Now how am I going to explain this?" _Were Ryu´s thoughts as he was rising from his bed and faced Suigintou, who was sitting on top of her case, which was beside Ryu´s laptop.

"I had a dream, similar to the one I had before meeting you."

Suigintou crossed her arms after hearing this, with a very serious expression on her face.

"Keep talking." She said.

"I…met one of your sisters…she said she might be appearing…soon."

That was enough for Suigintou to lose her temper. All of her sisters didn't matter to her, she didn't care about what might to any of them…

…except for one.

"I want you to tell me the name of this sister of mine."

Suigintou wanted to know if she should be alert or not, as there was one particular sister she didn't want to meet.

"I-I don't know her name…" Ryu lied to her.

Ryu decided to do this because he could fell how Suigintou was starting to get more anxious with his answers.

"_This will only get worse if tell her who the doll was…Shinku, was it? I must remember that name, but I must keep it to myself." _ Ryu thought.

"I could only hear her voice; it was just like when I met you."

Suigintou sighed; she was expecting more information from Ryu. But it was enough, she had to be prepared, any of her sisters could be searching for her just to fight.

"Ryu, you must watch out from now on, if any of my sisters has decided to let you know she is co9ming, it means it wants us to be prepared. She might challenge me for my Rosa Mystica, so keep your eyes opened." Suigintou said.

Ryu knew that Shinku wasn´t looking for a fight, she just wanted to talk, but if he said anything else he might give away the fact that he was lying to Suigintou, and he knew she would be very angry, because he promised he would help her become Alice.

"I will…" Ryu said.

"Now that the matter has been sorted out, go make breakfast, I haven't eaten in a while."

"What am I supposed to cook for you?"

Now that he had managed to move on with the subject, it was Ryu´s duty to fulfill the order he had received the last night. He wanted to forget about what he had seen in his dreams. The possibility of Shinku appearing that same day was low, so he wanted to enjoy a normal day.

Ryu and Suigintou left the room. To the left of its door you would be able to go into the bathroom or another room, which belonged to Ryu´s dad and his now deceased mother. To the left you would find the living room just after a few short steps. To the right of the living room, you would find the dinner table, and opposite to it, the entrance to the kitchen, next to the main door.

Suigintou went to the dining table, and Ryu started walking towards the kitchen. Before he could enter he turned when Suigintou said:

"Don´t tell me you are dumb enough to not see that I need some assistance to reach what might be served. Go back and bring something to put in this chair so I can sit properly."

"_It seems she has forgotten the dream thing, she seems to be in a good mood today. That means I might be able to ask her what this mark means"_

Ryu thought this while looking at his mark on his way to his room. The mark was still there, but it wasn't glowing. It looked like a sideways dragon, which had its mouth opened and its arms positioned in a threatening way. Ryu thought it looked cool, but he knew it meant more than just a cool looking mark.

Ryu grabbed some books and was ready to leave his room, when he heard some noise coming from the inside of his closet. Ryu left the books beside the door and opened the closet, wondering what might be producing that noise. It sounded as if something had fallen inside.

"_Maybe one of my jackets has fallen from the hanger?"_

Ryu never imagined he would find what he found inside the closet, at least not that day. Just when he was about to open the door, a voice came from the inside, in a commanding tone:

"Let me out of this place at once!"

It was Shinku! Ryu didn't know what to do, Suigintou would lose her temper again if she discovered one of her sisters was inside the apartment, and this time, she wouldn't get back to her calmed self easily.

"_Oh crap, not now!"_

Ryu opened the closet, hoping that the voice he had just heard was just his mind playing with him. When he saw Shinku trying to exit the mirror, he lost the hope he had on spending an calm day on his house.

"You! Help me get out of here at once!" Shinku said.

"Lower your voice, for god sake!"

Ryu said this while trying to figure out how to convince Shinku into coming another day. Today was not the day to talk with Suigintou, it hadn't been more than a day since she had seen Barasuishou and Kirakishou. She certainly didn't want to see any other doll soon.

Suigintou´s voice came from the living room.

"Ryu! What was that noise? It is taking you too much time just to bring a couple of books!"

"It´s nothing! I just have to organize my closet a little bit, it won´t take too long!"

Ryu answered the first thing that came to his mind.

"What do you mean by –It´s nothing-? I´m a Rozen Maiden! I can´t believe you-"

Shinku´s words got cut off by Ryu´s hands. He had to stop her from speaking any more. He knew that if he hadn't stopped her, Suigintou would come to his room because of the noise Shinku was making, and if that happened, hell would be set free on earth.

"Look, you must keep your voice down…No, you should just leave, you might have said we were going to meet soon, but not this soon. Suigintou is not in a good mood when it comes to meeting other dolls"

Ryu whispered this to Shinku, trying to calm her down. When she stopped moving, he took his hands off of her mouth. Shinku slapped Ryu with her hair after getting back on her feet.

Ryu was stroking his left cheek, which was now a little bit red because of Shinku, and whispered:

"Why the heck would you do that?"

"A lady such as myself can´t be treated that way. You had it coming." Shinku answered, calmly.

"Look, just …leave, now."

Ryu said this whilst picking the books up so he could go back to the living room, where Suigintou was.

"I am not leaving, not now." Shinku answered.

"What can I do to make you change your opinion about that?"

Ryu whispered very nervously each word, as he knew that in any moment, Suigintou could appear behind him and see another doll standing in front of him.

"You want me to leave, make a tea good enough to make up for the effort of coming here. I understand if Suigintou doesn´t want to see any doll, but at least you should treat me as a guest."

Shinku seemed to enjoy the idea of mocking Ryu, which meant that she didn´t believe it would be that bad if Suigintou found out she was there, because the last times she had met her, Suigintou hadn´t been exactly mad.

She didn't understand what she was doing…

"It seems you didn´t listen. Leave now."

Ryu said this, picked up the few books he had collected, and went back to Suigintou. When he saw her, she was trying to turn the living room T.V on. She seemed to know what it was, but she couldn't find the remote control.

"It should be right beside the T.V if you haven't checked there. I´ll go make breakfast."

"What where you doing in your room? It can't take you that much time to organize your closet."

Suigintou seemed to be curious about the noise coming from Ryu´s room.

Suddenly, the sound of something getting on top of the bed echoed through the living room. The T.V wasn't on yet, so it broke the silence that had filled the room after Suigintou´s question.

"_Oh crap. She isn't going to leave! I´ll just make her the tea she wants before I get in trouble." _Ryu thought.

"What was that?" Suigintou asked.

"Nothing, don't pay attention to it. Might be the neighbors upstairs."

Ryu answered quickly, and took a couple of eggs out of the refrigerator. He started to cook them at the same time he was preparing a cup of tea. He didn't really like tea, but on the rare occasions his father was at home, he usually brought with him tea from where he had been working.

After a couple of minutes, Ryu served the eggs to Suigintou, who looked at them with a very disgusting look. Ignoring this, he went back to the kitchen and took a cup of tea and a little plate and went into his room.

"You drink _that?"_

Suigintou didn't like the smell of tea. When she saw Ryu rushing to his room with a cup of tea, she wondered why he didn't drink it in the same room in which she was.

When Ryu got to his room, he saw Shinku sitting on his bed. He gave her the cup of tea without saying anything. Shinku took a sip of the tea Ryu had made for her. Even though it wasn't one of his biggest worries at the moment, Ryu wanted to hear what Shinku had to say with great expectation.

"Horrible."

Ryu had his head down after hearing that.

"The temperature is not right, try again."

"Hey, I made tea for you, now leave." Ryu said.

On the meanwhile, Suigintou had just finished her breakfast. She could hear Ryu talking, but wasn't sure why.

"_What is he doing now?"_

Suigintou went to his room to investigate. She walked slowly, when she started to notice there was a second voice coming from Ryu´s room. It was a familiar voice, so she started to walf faster.

Ryu just wanted Shinku to leave, he was about to turn in order to prepare a new cup of the when he heard Suigintou´s voice behind him.

"YOU!"

A chill went down his spine. Now, he would have to explain why Shinku was there, talking to him. He turned to face Suigintou, and, before he could say anything, Suigintou said:

"Ryu, what is SHE doing in here?"

Ryu had never seen Suigintou so angry before.

"Suigintou, it has been a long time. I wanted to talk to you."

Shinku´s answer came faster than Ryu though. He was short of words, now that 2 dolls were standing in front of each other, the only thing separating them was him.

Suigintou opened her wings and started floating right beside Ryu.

"Look, Suigintou, I-"

"Shinku, how did you know how to find me?"

Suigintou ignored Ryu, as she was staring directly at her sister, anger filled her eyes. Shinku was calmed, as those eyes were familiar to her.

Shinku turned her gaze towards Ryu, and said:

"I thought you had told her I would be coming."

Ryu, knowing he was in a tight situation, looked at Shinku, leaving Suigintou right behind his back, and said:

"I did tell her you would be coming, but I never thought it would be this soon."

"In that case, why are you surprised Suigintou?" Shinku said.

Suigintou´s eyes widened when she heard this.

"Ryu, you told me you didn't know her name."

Ryu didn't turn his gaze; instead, he was looking directly at Shinku, hoping she would understand it was best for her to leave.

"I-I know I told you that…I lied because…"

Ryu then turned to see Suigintou´s face.

"…Because I wanted you to-"

Shinku´s eyes widened.

Ryu felt a deep pain in his left cheek, as some kind of force was moving his face to the right side.

Ryu´s eyes met with Suigintou´s. They were in pain; they were full of anger, and covered in tears.

That´s when he understood…

She had slapped him.

* * *

**Well, I don't really know what to say, I wasn't planning this to happen when I started writing this chapter, it just came to my mind lol. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter.**

**Remember to leave reviews and such, with your opinions and, if you fancy, your ideas about what would you like to see in the next chapters. **

**Truth is, the ideas are not flowing for the next chapters… so I think I need a little help.**

**Oh, and I wanted to give you a heads up: Because of the ideas not flowing as I said before, and because I have some ideas for some other fanfics I would like to start writing, it might take me more time to update. But don't worry, I won´t leave the story behind. It would be nice to see if you get to read the other fics when they get released.**

**That´s it! I´ll see you on the next chapter, bye!**


	7. Forgiveness

**Author´s note:** First, I want to let you guys now that maybe next week you won't see any update, as it will be a week full of assignments for me. Second, the updates might take longer because I recently started writing another fic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Be sure to read the note at the end.

**Disclaimer:** I **DO NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters: however, I **DO** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 7: Forgiveness**_

Suigintou left through the open window in Ryu´s room. She flew as high as she could, and then left with no particular direction. She needed a moment to forget what had just happened.

Ryu, who had a very sad look on his face for what he had just seen, wanted to go back in time to fix what he had done. He broke the promise he made to Suigintou the day they met. Even though he did it just to keep her safe, to find an alternative that didn't risk her Rosa Mystica as much as when fighting against all of her sisters.

"Shinku…Just leave…Just leave."

Shinku knew she had screwed up. She wasn't expecting her sister to react the way she did towards her medium, but it couldn't be helped. It was Suigintou after all.

Shinku didn't protest, didn't say anything, and left through the same mirror she had arrived.

Even though Ryu knew Shinku didn't want to cause what had just happened, he felt that it had happened just because she refused to leave. In some degree, Ryu blamed Shinku.

"_You´ve done it Ryu, you´ve done it."_

But he was also to blame, because he had lied to his doll, his partner. Even though he didn't mean any harm, he understood he had ruined everything when he decided to keep Shinku´s name a secret from Suigintou when he mentioned he had met a doll in his dreams.

Ryu closed his closet, washed the plates Suigintou had used when eating breakfast, and went back to his room.

"Damn it!"

Ryu said this while hitting the wall beside his bed. He lied down and stared to the ceiling.

" _I need to think of something, I can´t leave things as they are. I must apologize to her."_

Ryu wasn't able to come up easily with a good idea on how to apologize. He felt that just asking for forgiveness wouldn't be enough.

"Maybe I should buy something to her?"

He said this to himself and thought about a possible gift, but after giving it some thought, he thought it would be better to not give her anything, because he knew that there was a chance that it would just upset her even more.

Ryu would have to use the approach we wanted to avoid, just asking for forgiveness.

Ryu left the window opened on his room, and started to surf the internet in the meanwhile. He was certain Suigintou would come back, she had to, her case was still in Ryu´s room.

"I guess I´ll just wait and see what happens."

The day passed and there was still no sign of Suigintou.

Ryu went to bed, grabbed a couple of extra sheets to put on top of his bed, and went to sleep, with the room´s window still opened.

A couple of hours passed until Suigintou returned.

She looked at the sleeping Ryu with a serious expression, knowing that it wasn't his fault completely, because he didn't know about her past with Shinku, but still, he had lied to her, something she wouldn't accept so easily.

She decided to go to the living room and spend the night looking off to the sky from the window near the dining table.

Before she left, she closed the window when she noticed that Ryu was shivering because of the cold coming from the window.

"_I guess I can´t bring myself to hate you so easily."_

She went to the living room with these thoughts on her head, without knowing Ryu was still awake, waiting for her.

"_Let´s hope for the best."_

Ryu thought this and, after a couple of minutes, he stood up from his bed, took a deep breath, and left his room.

The whole house was dark, no lights were on. Suigintou didn't want to announce her return, she didn't want to see Ryu for the rest of the day, but she was in for a surprise.

She had her eyes fixed on the full moon illuminating the silent city. The moonlight highlighted the detail of her face, it could perfectly be confused with a human face, if not for her body and the sensation you could feel when touching her.

"It seems you like the sky, a lot. I´ve recently seen you staring at it every chance you get."

Suigintou didn't react, she kept looking off to the sky, but after some time, she turned to see Ryu with a very serious expression, holding back her anger.

"Go back to your room; I don't have any intention to talk to you right now."

"I won't."

Suigintou had never seen some human responding to her like that. The light of the moon barely allowed her to see his face, but then she noticed his eyes reflected something.

He was sad.

"Suigintou, I just want you to listen what I have to say."

Suigintou didn't like that. Even though Ryu had been a better medium than some her past ones, she didn't like the fact that he had lied to her.

"Go away."

Ryu, instead of backing off, got closer to her. He picked one of the dining table chairs and placed it near Suigintou.

She turned her gaze back to the moon.

Ryu could feel she was angry, but sad at the same time. He wanted to fix what he had done, so he would have to explain everything.

"_I won´t lose this chance, if I let it go, she won´t be as calmed as she is right now." _Ryu thought.

"Will you at least hear my explanation?"

Suigintou faced him. She was serious, or at least that's how she looked. She would hear, or that´s what Ryu thought.

"Look, the dream I had, I met Shinku there."

Suigintou´s eyes showed that she felt annoyed to hear about Shinku again.

"At first I thought she wanted to trick me, to get both of us together so she could attack us."

Suigintou was surprised that he had imagined that. Shinku isn't a doll that seems to be violent, but knowing that Ryu hadn't met her before or heard anything about her, it was understandable.

"She said she just wanted to talk to you. That Rozen, your father, had told her there was another way to end the game."

"And you just believed her?!"

Suigintou had lost it. Hearing about Shinku meeting her father was something she could not stand.

"No, at first I didn´t."

Shinku calmed down again.

"I wasn't sure if she was hiding something. But then, when I asked her about the way your father had mentioned, she said she didn't know more about it, just that I didn't involve killing any sisters."

"Tsk."

The idea of not fighting being another way to end the game was something she had heard from Shinku before. She was trying to get her medium on her side, and apparently she had accomplished that.

"That´s what she always mentions."

"Suigintou, I only hid the fact that I knew her name because you clearly weren't in the mood to know it."

Suigintou gave him an angered look.

"Do you even know what you did? You betrayed me! She has always been my rival and you brought her here!"

Ryu was, in some way, starting to lose his temper.

"I´m not sure if you remember, but you never told me anything about your sisters. How was I supposed to know?"

Suigintou calmed down because she had remembered that. Ryu wasn't at fault there either.

"To cut things short, I don't have a good relationship with my sisters, but its different with Shinku."

Ryu was hearing attentively.

"At first I admired her; she taught me a lot of things. I thought she was someone amazing, a true lady."

Ryu gave her a confused look, he never thought Suigintou would have ever seen one of her sister like that before.

"But then, I discovered she wasn't exactly like that. She called me trash when she discovered…"

She stopped, but after a couple of seconds she resumed.

"…She discovered something I wasn't really proud of. She abandoned me, and there I saw she always treated me like someone inferior. Even if she asked for forgiveness, she called me trash."

"I see."

Suigintou seemed to be agitated when she finished.

Now that Ryu had heard that he understood why she had been so angry.

"But even if you didn't know that, you still helped her to find me."

He was still being blamed, he had to change that, explain himself.

"You told me that you did it to avoid a fight, that´s typical of you humans."

"What do you mean?"

She was getting upset again.

"You only did it because you didn't want to fight! Even though you promised me that you would help me, you were afraid of getting hurt!"

A single tear was running down her eye, caused by the anger.

"It´s not like that."

"Then why did you do it?!"

Ryu had to stop her, she didn't want to see her upset again. He took a deep breath and yelled at her.

"Because I´m afraid that you´ll get hurt!"

Suigintou froze completely. Only her last medium had cared about her. The other ones were just forgettable mediums.

"I´m trying to look for a way to finish this without risking you or anyone else. I don't want you to go through more pain."

Suigintou, still hearing his words, looked down to the floor.

"What you told me is more than enough to understand that you have been alone all this time, trying to reach your goal. But if there is another way, and it requires us to cooperate with other dolls, I'm willing to go that way."

Suigintou had never felt something like that. Someone cared for her like no one had before, apart from her father.

"Suigintou…Would you forgive me?"

His words were cutting through her mind. Even though she wasn't going to cooperate with Shinku that easily, the possibility to accept her ideals was there in her mind, barely though.

"I-I guess I can…only this time…"

She could have answered immediately, but she didn't want to sound that convinced.

Ryu steeped towards him and hugged her, surprising her completely.

"Thank you…I promise I won´t cause you any more pain."

Suigintou didn't protest, didn't answer, and didn't do anything. She just accepted his hug as it came.

Now, she wasn´t sure how she felt towards him, but it was clear for her that it was different.

She didn't know what it was, but she felt she cared more for him now that he had expressed how important she was to her. She didn't know if it was love or something similar, and she didn't think Ryu felt the same.

Nonetheless, she was happy.

* * *

**Yeah, I guess you now know the pairing I support. Hopefully anyone expecting a harem will keep reading. I took this decision not only because it was the original idea, but also because I received a lot of PMs asking for the OCxSuigintou pairing, not many for the harem, though in the reviews it was the other way around. Hopefully you have enjoyed it, and will keep reading even if the decision was not the one you wanted.**

**Remember to leave reviews, follow and fav, it makes me quite happy and keeps this story going. **

**I´ll see you on the next chapter!**


	8. The Package

**Author´s note:** Sorry for the late update, but as I said in the last chapter, this week was full of work for me, and the next update might take some time as well, for the same reason

**Disclaimer:** I **DO NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, I **DO** own Ryu Hoshigawa.

Remember to review. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 8: The Package**_

Silence filled the room. The moon was at its highest point, illuminating both Ryu´s and Suigintou´s faces through the windows of the apartment. They kept silent for a while, as none of them really knew what to say.

Ryu hadn't really thought about what he would do after managing to explain everything to Suigintou, and the fact that he had hugged her without really thinking about it only made the silence worse, for both of them.

Finally, after recalling the events from the n-field, Ryu was able to say something.

"Suigintou…Back at your n-field, you told me you would explain what a Maestro was. I know this isn't exactly the moment, but…"

Suigintou was a bit surprised, but she felt relieved the silence had stopped.

"I guess you are a bit confused. How should I start?"

Ryu laid back on his chair. If she had asked that, it meant it wasn't something simple, nothing about the Alice Game was simple.

"We could say first that being a Maestro is not common, even if you are a medium. The perfect example of a Maestro would be my father. It basically means that you have the ability to repair one of us, the same way father would do."

"That´s good, isn't it?" Ryu replied.

Ryu wasn´t really sure if he should feel good for being a Maestro. Laplace seemed to know quite a lot about the subject, so it might mean more than he imagines.

"It is. As far as I know, the only negative thing that could come out of being a Maestro would be the other dolls." Suigintou said.

"Because they might come after me?" Ryu added.

Suigintou nodded. Ryu got closer to her, making her feel a little bit uncomfortable. That hug he gave her was still fresh on her mind. Ryu didn't notice and raised his right arm, moving it towards Suigintou.

"What about the mark?" Ryu asked.

"Well, I´m not very sure about what it means, but I was able to hear from my father that the mark would mean that the Maestro would be even closer to matching his abilities. It was a long time ago though." Suigintou replied.

Ryu looked at the mark full of curiosity. Now that it wasn't glowing, it was black, but the shape was still the same: a dragon.

"If you are closer to matching my father, it means that you might be able to create your own dolls…" Suigintou said.

Ryu was surprised to hear this. He had never thought about the possibility of creating dolls similar to Suigintou and her sisters,

"How could I do something like that?" Ryu asked.

"I´m not quite sure…" Suigintou replied.

Ryu stood up, and went to the kitchen.

"_If I create my own dolls, we might have an advantage against Barasuishou and Kirakishou, should they come for me again…"_ Ryu thought.

When he returned, he was holding a glass of water on his hand. He returned to his chair, in front of Suigintou and drank some water from his glass.

"I want to know more about the creation process. If I create a doll, or dolls, it would be helpful against the couple we fought at the theatre." Ryu said.

"That could be useful. Well, I suppose that creating the doll isn't exactly a problem, the real problem lies on bringing her to life." Suigintou replied.

Her answer struck Ryu´s mind. He had forgotten about the Rosa Mystica of a doll and its function. The core of everything was the only thing that could not be created by ordinary means.

"I guess we´ll have to figure that out later."

After saying this, Ryu stood up, and went to the kitchen once more to leave his glass. When he returned, he looked at his wristwatch to see how much time had passed.

"_The date has already changed. Maybe we should go back and sleep."_ He thought.

Ryu walked towards Suigintou, grabbed her and started walking towards his room. He was carrying her in a princess-like position.

"H-HEY! What do you think you are doing!?"

"Taking you back to my room, we should get some rest."

Ryu had a slight smile on his face, but due to the darkness of the hallway, Suigintou wasn't able to see it.

"Let go of me! I can go by myself!"

"Nope. You returned not that long ago, so that means you were out for the whole day. You must be tired."

Suigintou blushed intensely. She punched Ryu´s chest a couple of times, though she didn't really put any effort on doing that. She was grateful because Ryu cared about her, but being carried like a princess was too much.

When they got to Ryu´s room, Suigintou quickly went to her case, and closed it before Ryu could say anything. Steam was coming out of her case, produced by her blushing.

Ryu giggled and went to his bed; he closed his eyes, wondering if he would be able to create a doll of his own.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a garden. It extended as far as his eyes could see.

"I´m dreaming again."

Ryu said this to himself as he started walking down the only way there was. It took him to an open area, surrounded by all kinds of flowers; in the middle, there were a couple of chairs and a table. On top of it, there was a piece of paper.

"Sit?" Ryu read what was written on it and sat down.

The sun was looking directly at him. Everything was so bright, he could barely notice that someone was approaching him.

The light made it even harder for Ryu to see who was now sitting right in front of him. Using his hand to cover his eyes, Ryu was able to see that the person sitting in front of him was a man, though the light made it hard to see his face.

"Young Ryu, I must thank you for taking care of my daughter. I must admit I hadn't seen her smiling the way she was done these last days in quite some time."

"Daughter? That means you are…"

"Yes…I´m Rozen"

Ryu´s eyes widened.

"Where am I?" Ryu asked.

"You are in my own n-field. Don't worry, you´re safe here. Before you ask anything else, I want to explain some things to you."

Ryu did not protest. Being in another n-field was a surprise, but it was good to know that it was a safe n-field. He could feel he could trust the one sitting before him, even if he couldn't see his face completely.

"As you already know, you are a Maestro. The symbol in your hand is the Drachen Mark, it means that you can create dolls of your own, as you and Suigintou had suspected. This mark gets you closer to me in terms of doll-crafting skills."

"_How does he know about the conversation between me and her?" _Ryu thought.

"I can see everything my daughters are doing, and I know what you just thought, but that is not important right now."

Ryu kept silent.

"The difference between my daughters and your Drachen Maidens is that they can only be bound to you, no one else. I will give you a ring that can hold up to 5 dolls, that way you won't get your fingers full of rings." Rozen said.

He gave Ryu a silver ring, decorated with a flower with 5 petals. Each petal had a small socket.

"Five dolls? That would drain my energy very quickly wouldn't it?" Ryu asked.

"Don't worry. Your mark is a strong source of energy, and because you are their creator, they won't take the same amount of energy one of my dolls would."

Whilst he listened, Ryu tried to see how Rozen looked, but each time he tried to see his face with more detail, the sunlight would just get stronger.

"Now, about the creation of your dolls, don't worry about the materials. I will send periodically whatever you may need to create them, your inner ability as a Maestro will guide you from there. Before you go, I must tell you that there is another way to end this game."

"Another way?"

"Yes, young Ryu. I´m sure you´ve heard it from Shinku. My daughters must be together, if you manage to do that, I'll be able to finish this. I feel that, after all this years, all of them have shown the desire to become human, so this is their chance."

"Why can't you just do it right now?" Ryu asked.

"I can´t tell you, not now. The idea was that only the perfect one would survive, but now I realize that, just maybe, I might have been wrong. Anyway, you must leave now. One last thing…"

Everything started to fade away

"Make your first doll as soon as you can, I fell you will need her. Be sure to put all your effort into it, as that is what makes a doll unique. Oh and…don't tell Suigintou you talked to me, you can mention what you said, but don´t mention my name, it could affect her. Good luck, Ryu."

White light blinded Ryu. Just before he realized, he had woken up. The sun light coming through the window told him that.

It seemed that Suigintou had already woken up, her case was opened. Ryu walked to the living room and there she was.

"Morning, Ryu."

Suigintou was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the T.V and was reading one of the books Ryu had used previously to help her sit properly at the dining table.

"Good Morning."

Ryu sat in a chair opposite to Suigintou.

"I had a very interesting dream last night. I know it was a dream but, I believe I know what this mark means."

Ryu explained briefly the main details of what he had seen, excluding the fact that the man he had talked to was no other than Rozen himself.

"So you can create your own dolls, just as I supposed."

Suigintou seemed more interested in the information than on the man that Ryu had met on his dream, which relieved Ryu.

"If I heard correctly you should be receiving every material needed to create your own doll, right?" Suigintou asked.

"Yes. I´m not sure when exactly, but they will arrive. On the other hand, what do you think about the other way of ending the game?"

Suigintou was calmed, though it seemed as she wasn't very interested in meeting her sisters. She would have to believe in Ryu, even if it involved telling Shinku about it, Ryu´s determination to keep her and anyone else involved safe was enough for Suigintou.

"I suppose it´s good enough, though it won't be easy. Fighting my sisters has been complicated in the past years, so we can expect to have more trouble convincing them that we should not fight…But I guess Shinku could smooth things a little bit." Suigintou replied.

Just as she finished, the doorbell rang.

Ryu stood up.

"I wonder who it is…Suigintou, hide. If anyone sees you, it will just make things harder for us."

"I know."

Suigintou went flying to Ryu´s bedroom and closed the door.

Ryu opened the door, but there was nobody standing there.

"Huh?"

What Ryu did see was a cardboard box in front of his entrance. It was big, and when Ryu tried to pick it up, he noticed it was slightly heavier than he had imagined. It had a white envelope on top of it. Ryu closed the door after pulling the package he had received into the house.

"Suigintou! Come! It was just a delivery!" Ryu shouted.

Suigintou appeared and floated next to Ryu.

"I didn't know you liked to order stuff." She said.

"I don´t. I wasn't expecting this, and the box doesn't have anything written on it apart from my name."

Ryu opened the envelope and pulled out a letter. He opened it and started reading so Suigintou could know what it was all about.

"Let´s see…-Dear Ryu. Inside the box you should find everything you need to create your own dolls. Your imagination will be the principal tool in the process. You´ll need to assemble the body of the doll with the parts provided. There will be multiple pieces of cloth, each piece from a different color."

Ryu started to open the box to see if everything was there. Inside the box, smaller boxes could be found; each one with a different set of materials inside on them.

"Use the cloth to create something similar to the clothes you would like your doll to wear. At night, leave her and go to sleep, but before doing so, imagine how would you like your doll to look like exactly, as here is where your imagination comes into the process. The next day, wind her up using one of the five keys that you´ll find inside the box too."

"I can´t believe there is someone out there that knows how this works…He has simplified everything to you. I wonder why he is helping you." Suigintou said, interrupting Ryu.

"_I just hope this doesn't go wrong. I promised I wouldn't do it again, but it was her father who asked me to keep my mouth shut…I hope you´ll forgive me if you ever find out, Suigintou."_ Ryu thought.

Without replying, Ryu kept reading.

"Ryu, do not try to create all of them at once. You might have a big amount of energy stored in you, but creating a doll through this process will consume a vast amount of it. You´ll need to wait until the right time comes for each doll. Good luck."

"No sender, huh?" Suigintou said.

"I guess we´ll just have to follow the instructions…"

Ryu pulled the box towards his room. When he arrived, he cleared the desktop and started to spread the materials in front of him.

Suigintou was watching closely. She wanted to see what Ryu would have in mind.

"_Even though I don't like the idea of more dolls wandering around, it should be fine if Ryu is their father…I guess I should keep this thought to myself." _Suigintou thought.

Ryu took the silver ring he had received on his dream and put it in his left hand, ring finger.

"Well…Let´s get started."

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**Once again, I´m terribly sorry for the late update, but I can´t help it. This next month will be full of work for me, but when mid-June arrives, I'll be free! I´ll try to upload the next chapter this week, although it is very unlikely.**

**Hope you have enjoyed it. I would love to hear your opinion about the dolls you´ll be seeing in the future, so leave a review with your comment on it and the story so far.**

**I´ll see you on the next chapter! (I wonder when that´ll be…)**


	9. First Steps

**Author´s note**: It´s been nice to receive reviews regularly, so I thank everyone who has been kind enough to leave a review. Be sure to read the note at the end before you leave.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I **DO NOT** own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters; however, I **DO** own my OCs.

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_**Rozen Maiden: Drachen**_

_**Act I: Versöhnung**_

_**Chapter 9: First Steps**_

Suigintou was looking at the box in front of Ryu very attentively, but Ryu was completely still. When he opened the first box inside the package, he kept silent as he stared into its contents.

"What´s wrong Ryu?" She asked.

"How am I supposed to know how to assemble this?"

Ryu pointed at its contents.

A handful of doll legs and arms were sitting in front of him, but when he first tried to stick one of them to any of the torsos, it didn't work. None of those parts were labelled, so he would have to try with every possible combination until he could find the correct match.

"It wasn't as easy as the letter explained, huh?" Suigintou said, breaking Ryu´s silence

Ryu just nodded and kept trying to connect the limbs to the doll´s torso he had pulled out from one of the other boxes inside the package.

After a couple of minutes, Ryu gave up.

"AAAAHHHH! None of these arms work with this body!" Ryu screamed as he grabbed his head.

"Calm down! There must be a way to make them fit." Suigintou answered calmly.

At that moment, Ryu noticed there was a piece of paper buried in the bottom of the box, now revealed as he had almost emptied the box, trying to make some progress.

Ryu grabbed the paper and unfolded it. He was delighted to see what his eyes were showing him.

Suigintou noticed he smiled lightly.

"For the way you are smiling, I can tell that you know how to advance with this."

"Illustrated instructions on how to assemble the body. It seems it was more complicated than I thought. I have to try to join each part at a specific angle for it to enter the socket. 45 degrees to be more precise."

"_It seems you weren't telling the truth completely when you said this would be more simple than the original process, eh Rozen? Nevertheless, I should be thankful." _He thought

Suigintou got closer so she could see the illustrations herself, and it seemed that Ryu was telling the truth, even if there wasn't some sort of mark on the socket or the arms and legs that indicated that a specific position was required.

After a couple of minutes, Ryu was able to find the correct pieces and join them together. Now, the only thing missing to complete the body, before going to the next part, was the head.

When Ryu took the head he felt was the matching one for the body, he looked at another piece of paper that guided him through this part of the process.

"Well…it seems that now it's time to get creative."

"What do you mean?" Suigintou asked.

"I´ll have to take special care when thinking about what I want her face to look like, she will be my first doll after all."

Ryu replied without taking his eyes out of the head. He would have to assemble a face close to what he had on his head. His Maestro powers would play an important role in the rest of the creation.

It took Ryu around one hour to finish the face. He then moved on to the dress, carefully leaving the doll aside so he could work on designing a basic idea of what he wanted the dress to look like.

Ryu saw the clock and noticed he still had about 4 hours before the sun started setting. He took the pieces of cloth and accessories that came with the box. Buttons, ties, ribbons, everything was there.

"It will be interesting to see what you have in mind. But I´ll wait until tomorrow to judge your creation." Suigintou said.

"Judge my creation? Sounds as if you want to help me with her design." Ryu replied.

"I don't. In the few days I´ve been here I have never seen you make use of your creativity, so I don't know what to expect from you when it comes to creating a doll."

"You´ll have to wait until the night. If the most important part comes at my sleep, it probably means that I´ll have to finish her in an n-field."

Ryu said this as he started to cut white cloth, trying to design a shirt for his "daughter".

"Why is that?" Suigintou asked.

"I´ve been visiting n-fields when I sleep, haven't I? I´m not saying it has been happening every day, but I suppose that it´s easier to enter an n-field while sleeping, am I wrong?"

Suigintou sat down next to the doll, and looked at Ryu with interest. Mediums rarely came to conclusions such as that one. Suigintou only got more interested in him, as humans used to be mere sources of power to her.

"You´re not wrong, but not completely right. It´s true you can access n-fields while you sleep, but there are other ways to do so. You´ve seen it yourself, haven't you?"

Ryu nodded and kept working on the dress. Suigintou started to see Ryu with different eyes.

She was recalling everything she could about her father.

"_His face shows dedication. He´s completely focused on making his best effort to create a beautiful doll…I wonder if father had the same interest when he created me…"_

A warm smile formed on Suigintou´s lips, yet she didn't know if it was directed at her memories of Rozen, or at Ryu.

Ryu felt uncomfortable for some reason, and then he turned to see Suigintou. She was smiling at him, or at least it seemed to be that way.

"Ehm…Suigintou?"

Suigintou came back to herself, and then when she saw that Ryu was slightly smiling at her, she understood she had been smiling at his medium with no apparent reason.

"It´s nothing!"

She turned her face quickly to the window. Ryu giggled and kept working.

When Ryu finished, he dressed his doll carefully and sat her next to one of the cases that had come with the package.

"I wonder how he managed to fit all of this stuff in this box. It´s big but I don't think so many things would ever fit there normally."

Ryu said this as he went to the window. He was tired and it was late. Suigintou was sitting in the window, looking at the moon. She got bored quickly, as it took a lot of time for Ryu to finish each part of the clothes he wanted his doll to wear.

Suigintou did not answer. She stood up and flew over to the desktop. She analyzed the doll, and went to her case to get some sleep. It had been a boring day for her, but she knew that things would get livelier the next morning. She did not know how exactly, but things would definitely change.

"Have a good night, Suigintou."

"You too, Ryu."

She enclosed herself in her case, closed her eyes and tried to imagine how the doll would look like, even though she knew that things like that did concern her.

Ryu went to bed as well. He turned the lights off and closed his eyes, with a clear image of his ideal doll on his head.

Before he noticed, Ryu was standing in the middle of nowhere. In front of him, there was the doll he had created on top of a table.

"Suigintou, tell me if…Suigintou?"

Suigintou was nowhere to be found. Ryu was completely alone, until a familiar voice broke the silence.

"She´s not here. You must do this on your own."

"Rozen?"

The silence returned before Ryu could say anything. He knew that even if he shouted for the voice to come back, it wouldn't.

Ryu got closer to the doll. He touched her face with both of his hands, and it started to glow.

When the light disappeared, the face had changed. It seemed to be real, so he touched her face with both of his hands. It felt real.

"_Just like Suigintou´s hands. She feels real."_

Ryu closed his eyes and did his best to imagine her outfit. He wanted to be as detailed as possible so he could feel proud of himself. Creating a life, even if it wasn't human was something exciting for Ryu, as he had never imagined himself as a father, ignoring the fact that he was creating a doll.

When Ryu opened his eyes, they widened in surprise. The dress had the appearance he desired, and even though the doll´s eyes were closed, he felt as if she was giving him a lovely look, as a little smile was formed on her lips.

"_I´m pretty sure she wasn't smiling when I first saw her."_

Ryu noticed there seemed to be a small crystal lying next to the doll, and next to it, a small paper.

"_Where did this come from?"_

As Ryu wondered about the precedence of the crystal, he grabbed and read the small piece of paper. It instructed him to call put the name of the artificial spirit that would be with his doll at all times, and then, he would have to press the crystal against the doll´s chest.

"So this is a Rosa Mystica?

Ryu took the crystal and examined it. He could feel energy flowing out form it, but there wasn't anything particularly special about its appearance.

But, suddenly, the crystal started to glow. Ryu had to give the artificial spirit a name.

"_A name…"_

Ryu searched in the depths of his mind for names. An artificial spirit didn't need to have a proper name, so he thought it would be nice to look for something…extravagant.

There were many things Ryu liked, and of those was astronomy, so he decided to call this, and the next artificial spirits, as bright stars.

"_A light that guides them along with me…I like the idea…"_

"Artificial spirit! Your name will be…Polaris!"

A small light descended from the pitch-black sky. It was blue and flew around Ryu, and after a couple of second, it took the Rosa Mystica from Ryu´s hands and placed it against the doll´s chest. Ryu used his left hand to hold the doll from the back, and with his right hand he pressed the crystal. It entered her body quite easily.

Ryu saw a small light coming from the nape of the doll. A small mark was glowing there, and Ryu´s mark did the same as well.

When the light faded, Ryu saw the dragon mark on the back of the doll.

Everything around Ryu started to fade away, and his vision started to blurry. It was time to wake up.

Ryu woke up, as a ray of light was falling directly on his eyes. He leaned back as he yawned. He turned his gaze to Suigintou´s case, still closed, right beside his bed, on a small table next to it.

When Ryu looked over to the desktop, he could not believe what he saw. It had worked.

Ryu quickly knocked on Suigintou´s case, without taking his eyes off from the doll. Suigintou opened her case quickly with an angered face.

"RYU! WHY WOULD-"

"Look!"

Ryu interrupted Suigintou and pointed towards the doll sitting on his desktop. Suigintou turned and saw her too. She was left speechless.

"Is that…" Suigintou mumbled.

"Yes…" Ryu could not believe it.

They both got closer to doll. Ryu examined her clothes, and confirmed they were just as he had imagined.

He placed her down on the ground and winded her with one of the keys he had received. Suigintou just flew next to Ryu.

After winding her, she started to make slight movements that gradually became more natural. Both Ryu and Suigintou stepped back to give her some space, not wanting to scare her or anything similar.

The doll started to get up on her feet. Her outfit was basking in the sunlight that came through the sections of the window not covered by the curtains.

She was wearing a white shirt, covered by a dark blue waistcoat with golden decorations and a small, red bowtie around her neck. For the lower part of her body, she was wearing shorts, stockings and elegant dress shoes, all black. Her hair was short, straight and brunette, which portrayed perfectly her face.

Her eyes were not completely opened, possibly due to the fact that she had just woken up for the first time. They were as blue as the sky, matching the color of her artificial spirit.

The doll started to walk towards Ryu, without really knowing where she was going. She walked very oddly, still getting used to her body, but with each step she took, she was advancing more firmly towards her father. As he watched, Ryu could not resist and smiled happily, as he felt proud of his work, even if she had not been created completely by him.

Suigintou just watched with nostalgia, as that reminded her the first time she opened her eyes and saw Rozen for the first time. She felt a little jealous, as she kept remembering those moments.

When the doll got close to Ryu, she fell in his arms. She opened her eyes and lifted her head to see who had stopped her from falling to the ground, and there is where she felt a strong sense of warmness as she saw Ryu´s face.

"F-Father…?"

Ryu said the first thing that came to his mind, as he could not believe he had succeeded.

"Yes, my dear...I´m your father…"

Ryu said those words with a warm smile on his lips. Meanwhile, Suigintou seemed surprised as she saw Ryu taking a fatherly attitude as kind that in no time. She would die to be in his father´s arms at that moment.

"_You will do very fine as a father for her and the ones to come, Ryu."_ Suigintou smiled as these thoughts filled her head.

The doll´s voice was soft, but full of energy at the same time.

"Father!" She said as she buried her face in Ryu´s chest and hugged him as hard as she could.

Ryu embraced her softly, as if she was a delicate flower resting on his hands.

"Welcome…Naomi."

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**I will admit it. I enjoyed writing this chapter as I've never done before, and I'm not sure why. Hopefully you´ll be able to explain that to me (wink).**

**Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Remember to leave a review before leaving.**

**And, before you go…**

**Do not expect me to update in some good time. Next week I´ll be very busy organizing some sort of event at school and ,the week after that one, the final exams will come for my soul.**

**I think I might update the day the world cup starts, but I will try to update before so you keep tied to the story =D**

**See ya!**


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